The Truth About Cortisol Face and The Exact Steps To Fix It

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1:00Visit googlestore.com to learn more and start a new relationship with your health. Requires Google account, Google Health app, internet, and Google Health premium subscription. Features subject to change. Availability and results vary. Not intended for medical purposes. Works independently of Gemini apps. Check responses for accuracy. So right now there are millions of people staring right into their phone camera and they're absolutely certain that their face is puffier than it was a year ago. And there's a phrase for this and it is cortisol face, okay? It's everywhere, and people are noticing that their body is holding onto more water.

1:32It's puffier. It's affecting their jawline, their appearance, and people don't like what the hormone cortisol is doing to them physically. So today, I'm going to do what the internet won't. I'm going to tell you the truth about what cortisol does to your face, what it doesn't, and then lay out for you the exact plan, including the diet, the supplements, and the natural treatments to fix it naturally. So here's a big idea and one of the first things to know. When your face looks puffy or tired or inflamed, that's not vanity and it's not random. It's a readout of what's actually happening a layer deeper, several layers deeper in your hormones and then with your cellular health.

2:13And these are things actually you don't want to overlook. Listen, if you are puffy, if you have bags under your eyes, if you feel like your face is aging too quickly, that's a message your body's sending to you and you actually do want to take action in order to heal and correct imbalanced cortisol, cortisol face, and actually fix the root of these hormone and cellular problems. And I'm going to teach you exactly how to do that today on The Dr. Axe Show.

2:51So let me define what's happening. Okay, cortisol face is the name the internet gave to a face that looks rounder, fuller, puffier, maybe more than it used to, and soft in the cheeks and jawline, like you're holding water you can't shake off. And here's my first honest word to you. Cortisol face is not a medical diagnosis, okay? You won't find it in a textbook. It was born, I think, likely on TikTok. But that doesn't mean it's not important, okay? It is giving a different label to a symptom that people are having where there is an imbalance in your biology. Now, I do wanna mention there's a really big difference between what people are labeling as cortisol face and what is actually what we call true moon phase.

3:35And this is a clinical condition called Cushing's syndrome, okay? In cortisol phase, what you'll notice is mild everyday puffiness in your cheeks, in your jaw, and sometimes around your eyes, okay? This is typically driven truly by excess fluid, excess salt, which can cause your body to hold more fluid, poor sleep and poor diet. And this is something that can come and go, one day you wake up and it's a little different. One day you wake up and you're like, okay, my face looks fine now. And it's not a disease, okay? It is a symptom, and it's not an official diagnosis. Now, Cushing's syndrome is where your face gets round and full due to chronic excess cortisol, all right?

4:15Now, Cushing's syndrome, again, can also happen from long-term steroid use. Over time, what starts to happen with Cushing's syndrome is people also start to get a hump at the lower part of their neck and their upper back. That starts to happen over time. And this is a real serious diagnosed condition. Now, I will say there's a relationship there, though, in imbalanced cortisol. And if your cortisol stays really, really high over time, it can lead to numerous health problems that I'll get into. Now, the first thing I want to share with you is what the internet is getting wrong, okay? First off, cortisol phase or high cortisol, it's not just stress.

4:51Now, stress can be a big component, right? But it's not just stress. Everyday stress alone rarely puffs the face dramatically, okay? It tends to be poor sleep and excess sodium or a very low potassium intake, excess alcohol and chronic inflammation combined with cortisol. That's what does the visible work, okay? It's typically that combination that can contribute to cortisol phase, but it's typically not stress alone, okay? Also, again, it's not just water. Yes, fluid is part of it, but chronic cortisol also shifts fat and feeds inflammation under your skin. Also, it's not just excess weight and it's not something that you can fix with face cream and fillers, which is something I see a lot of people trying to do.

5:36This is an issue related to hormone imbalance and poor diet, excess stress, and poor sleep. And before we make cortisol the villain, let me defend it for just a second because without it, you would die, right? We have to have cortisol to survive. It is our, literally, it's actually our survival hormone. Cortisol comes from your adrenal glands run by what we call your HPA axis, your hypothalamus, your pituitary and adrenal axis. So it's sort of like your brain working with your adrenal glands. And this HPA axis is literally your body's command center for stress. And it does an incredible job. It wakes you up in the morning.

6:17It pulls energy out of storage. It steadies your blood sugar. it calms inflammation, and it holds your blood pressure up. Cortisol does all those things. So cortisol isn't your enemy. You need it, okay? It's actually more important than almost any hormone in your body, and I want to share with you why. So cortisol is actually known as your body's master hormone, okay? It sits on top of what we'd call your hormonal cascade or chain, right? So for insulin to change or thyroid hormones or any of these things to change, Cortisol is typically the first hormone that starts the domino effect. Cortisol is a key hormone for your metabolism.

6:54It sets how you burn fat and actually where you store fat. It actually impacts insulin maybe more than any other hormone. So if you're ever wondering, okay, why is my blood sugar off? Or if you're insulin resistant or pre-diabetic or diabetic, cortisol, when it goes up, insulin rises with it. So if you want to fix your blood sugar along with diet, the other thing you have to fix is cortisol. Third thing cortisol really impacts is your thyroid hormone. It is the single biggest thing that's going to impact your TSH levels and your T3 levels. So if you have high cortisol, it actually slows the conversion of T4 to T3.

7:34The other big thing is it impacts sex hormones, especially estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. If you're a male and cortisol stays high, your testosterone starts to drop. If you're a woman and cortisol stays high, progesterone typically drops and estrogen could go either way. But overall, it's going to imbalance your sex hormones. It's important for sleep. The inverse or what we call the yin and the yang of cortisol is melatonin. It's sort of when cortisol goes up, melatonin typically is down. When melatonin is up, cortisol drops down. Those typically go the opposite way of each other. So in cortisol, what you want at night is cortisol to drop, melatonin to go up so you can sleep and repair.

8:17Getting that deep restorative sleep all night long, it typically comes from cortisol lowering, melatonin going high, and then your immune system. Cortisol regulates your immune system and inflammation as well. So it is absolutely critical for your overall hormone health. And it's typically the single most important hormone for you to balance if you want all of your other hormones in balance as well. Now, the thing about cortisol is it's supposed to follow a curve, right? So starting in the early morning hours, it should really start to rise up, okay? And then kind of midday, afternoon, should sort of peak.

8:56And then it should start to drop down overnight and melatonin going in the opposite direction. So you want to have this nice cortisol curve in order to have hormone balance. Now, what happens to somebody if they have really unhealthy hormone levels and cortisol is off is cortisol will almost just stay the same. It stays a little bit too high and it doesn't really have this curve. And so you kind of feel tired during the day and then you don't get deep sleep at night and it doesn't drop down to where it should be. And it flatlines as a curve. and so you feel tired when you should have energy and you have just a little bit too much energy when you should be tired and sleeping.

9:34And so the key thing we want is we want to create the proper cortisol curve in order for you to heal. And there's certain things you can do certain times of day in order to start to improve cortisol. And so here's the reality. The problem is not cortisol. The real problem is cortisol being out of rhythm, okay, chronically elevated, especially at night. If you can fix that rhythm, you can fix cortisol, and you can also, by the way, you'll also look different in the mirror. You're also going to have your energy higher. You're also going to balance most of the other hormones in your body. Hey, so it's important to remember that cortisol and chronic stress aren't just mental.

10:12They create real physical strain on the body over time. They disrupt your hormones, your sleep, your metabolism, and your recovery. And when that stress response stays elevated, it becomes much harder for your body to reset and heal. One tool that helps regulate your stress response, supports your detox pathways, and promotes recovery is Sunlighten Infrared Saunas. These are targeted infrared light and heat, which are absorbed at the cellular level, helping reduce stress and improve circulation. That's why I trust Sunlighten is they've led infrared technology for over 25 years with patented systems designed to deliver high quality infrared.

10:52Their Impulseana, which is what I personally have, lets you customize precise wavelengths to match your health goals. If lowering stress and supporting long-term resilience is a priority for you, learn more at sunlight.com forward slash axe. Use the code AXE to save up to$1 ,600 plus free shipping with additional savings throughout the year. Now, there are six ways high cortisol typically shows up in your face, and I alluded to some of these earlier. Number one, from excess fluid and salt, right? So your body, under your eyes, on your cheeks, around your jawline, you're holding fluid. It tends to be a few things, okay?

11:34Too much salt, too low of potassium, okay? And then just your organs being overtapped, typically your kidneys and adrenals, okay? But if you are eating a diet really high in salt and processed foods, also sugar, by the way, sugar and salt cause fluid retention, so does alcohol. So those things are going to cause you to hold on to fluid. Potassium, and to a degree, things like magnesium, but really potassium more than anything, will help your body flush excess fluid out, okay? So remember, more potassium, more magnesium. Keep sodium moderate, natural, a little bit of sea salt's fine, you should be getting that, but doing fast food or excess electrolytes isn't gonna help you do that, it's gonna hurt your body in that way.

12:16So you wanna create, there's actually something in your body called your body's sodium-potassium pump. And sodium causes your body to hold onto water. Potassium causes your body to release water. And the foods highest in potassium tend to be fruit and beans, okay? So if you can increase your intake of fruit and beans and sweet potatoes in particular, those tend to have the most potassium, which can help your body start flushing out some of this excess water. And you do want to drink plenty of water at the same time. But potassium, magnesium, it's a lot of fruits, a lot of vegetables, a lot of avocados, sweet potatoes, beans.

12:56That's what's going to move the needle and typically help the most that fluid retention. The next one is sometimes what I would call excess fat storage. OK, if your body starts to hold on to more body fat, you gain five or 10 pounds extra, you'll start to see some of that puffiness as well. And for that, we know we need to increase protein. We need to increase fiber. Be careful with excess carbohydrates, right? And then just move as well. Exercise is really good. That's also good for fluid exchange, by the way. Even doing walking more or doing light sweating. It could be weight training. It could be 20 minutes on a Peloton bike or a treadmill or swimming.

13:35Any of that's fine, but all those things are going to help. So typically, the ways that cortisol are showing up on your face is excess fluid and salt and sugar, a fat shift, okay, increasing body weight, and then inflammation, okay? Leaking vessels and swelling gives your body an inflamed look. If your body's really inflamed, that's going to start to happen over time as well. Increasing your intake of the fruits, vegetables, and here's the big one, omega-3 fatty acids, consuming things like turmeric tea, that's going to help calm some of the inflammation. Number four is collagen loss. Your body will start to sag with collagen loss over time.

14:14Okay. Your body needs collagen. You can get that as bone broth. You can take a collagen supplement. You can also take things that support collagen production like vitamin C and zinc. Those are some of the most beneficial things you can do there. And then of course, blood sugar imbalance. When you have your blood sugar spike, now I mentioned this earlier, when cortisol goes up, insulin starts to go up. You know what else happens? When insulin goes up, cortisol oftentimes will go up as well. Okay, now, and then later on, sometimes they can both crash. But those two hormones, insulin and cortisol, really impact each other.

14:46So if your blood sugar is off, you're consuming excess carbohydrates or not getting enough protein and fiber, that's going to cause an issue as well. And then number six, and this is one of the most important, if you are not sleeping well and your lymph is not moving well, you will also store fluid in your face. Okay, poor sleep stalls drainage of your lymphatic system. So one of the greatest things you could do is prioritize deep and restful sleep. Turn off the devices a couple hours before bed, wear the blue blocker sunglasses, just kind of really get in a nice calming routine in the evening.

15:19That is gonna help tremendously. Move your lymph. The best way to move lymph is typically walking and getting on a mini trampoline like rebounder. Doing those things are going to help you move your lymph system. And what I wanna do now is I wanna go one layer deeper, okay, on exactly how to fix these issues, okay? Every one of those six things I talked about traces back to the same place. Your cells, okay? Chronic cortisol drains your mitochondria. Those are those little power plants that live in very, very dense amounts throughout every cell in your body, but also very densely in your brain, in your heart, in your adrenal glands, in your muscles.

15:59And when your body is flooded with oxidative stress, it starts to rust and damage your cells and your mitochondria. So when your face looks tired, that's not just your head talking, that's your cells talking. They're on low power mode. They're trying to survive. And here's the reality. If you heal your cells, your face will follow. Now, before I go deeper, I want to ask you for a quick favor. Subscribe to the podcast. It is the number one thing you can do to support the show. In this way, you don't miss a single episode or well-known guest that's coming on the show. Also think about one person that could really benefit from hearing the truth here about how to balance cortisol and hormones.

16:37Share this with them on a text message or social post. Thanks so much for being on mission with me here in the show. Okay, so let's talk about why your cortisol is stuck high. All right. Number one reason is this. Your mind is always on. Chronic mental and emotional stress puts your nervous system in overdrive. And so your brain just never shuts down. Now, by the way, I want to confess something right now. This is something that I am guilty of. Okay. This is one of the things of all the things on this list. I have the hardest time shutting my brain off. You know, in the summers, what I like to do, and so like I find certain things that help me shut my brain off.

17:17We have a pool at our house. So I found in the evening, going in there with my two girls, going in Chelsea, going in and swimming, that helps me shut my brain off. Rather than watching TV, for me to read a book like a novel or listen to an audio book, that helps me shut my brain off. There are certain things that just help me shut my brain off because if not, my brain is running all the time. You know, I used to think this. I used to think I'm not stressed. And I realized this, I am stressed. I'm stressed because I never turn my brain off. And just because I don't worry or I really don't have much fear at all or any anxiousness, that doesn't mean I'm not stressed.

17:52I have a type of mental stress where I'm always thinking and analyzing and researching and studying. And I love it. I love reading. I love learning, but I shouldn't be doing it all the time. And so really my rule is this, after dinner, shut my brain off. And that's the single biggest thing where I find if I do that, my hormones stay balanced, my health is good. But if I start to work on my laptop or I'm on my phone or doing those things after dinner, and especially, and also on the weekends, if I don't take one day just fully, fully off, that's when I notice my hormones and my cortisol start to get too high.

18:27So one of the biggest things you can do is turn your mind off and think about for you, what is that thing you need to do? And have a rule. on the weekend, on Sundays, do not look at any devices or maybe it's Saturday or after dinner. And then what are those things that help you turn your brain off? Is it connecting and having deep conversations, reading a book, playing with your kids, doing sports? What is it? Do more of those things. But that is the single biggest reason for most people why their cortisol is too high. Their mind is always on. And you might be one of those things. And I know, for instance, women tend to struggle with this more than men where you start to overanalyze things and think about them and put them on repeat over and over and over again in your head and just know that makes you sick.

19:11You know, when I have patients and they reach a roadblock and they feel like, okay, I got 50 % better, but now I can't get any better. I've been taking the right supplements. I've been following the right diet plan. Why can I not fully reverse hypothyroidism or PMOS or whatever issue you're dealing with? It tends to be a couple of things. You had had something happen in the past emotionally and it still bothers you today. Deep down, you've never addressed it. Or in a very similar way, there's an emotion and it's just continually bothering you still today. There's something where you have this anxiousness or this fear or this underlying emotion or you're obsessing or everything or trying to control things that are out of your control.

19:51You're worrying about your kids. It could be all kinds of things. But that mind being on, keeping cortisol high, you can eat the perfect diet. You can take every supplement. You can do every therapy. But if you can't fix that, And that's simply cortisol, you know, your mind being on imbalances your hormones. So fixing that is the single biggest fix for cortisol. Number two, blood sugar roller coasters, okay? There are so many reasons why I see blood sugar out of balance. Number one is just poor diet, right? You're eating out too much. You're eating too many carbohydrates. You're not getting enough protein.

20:27You're not getting enough fiber. You're not getting enough fruits and vegetables. Just that imbalance, okay? that inconsistency. Of course, that is a really big reason why. Another thing though I see on occasion is under eating. So if you're trying to lose weight and you're just not eating enough calories, here's the rule, okay? Your body, if you want to lose weight, you don't want to greatly reduce your calories. You want to reduce your calories by about 300 calories a day or so. Maybe you can do a little bit more than that, but about 300 calories and just consistently be in debt 300 calories.

21:00So if you're burning about, let's call it 2000 calories a day, and you're eating 1700 calories a day long-term, and then you're getting a lot of protein and fiber and fruits and vegetables, that's actually the best way to lose weight is just a little bit of calorie deficit. But if you go a lot and you say, I'm only going to eat, you know, I'm going to skip one meal per day and I'm just going to eat like a bird that will actually, your body will then say, whoa, whoa, we're going into survival mode here. Cortisol will actually go up and your body will start to store under the body fat and you'll lose the muscle and not the body fat or your body will just stay stuck.

21:35So if you're trying to lose weight, remember high protein, high fiber, lots of vegetables, lots of berries and a slight caloric deficit, but you don't want to do too much, okay? And that's sort of how you want to do it, but you want to keep your blood sugar balanced. And the other thing, of course, there's many things that can help that. cinnamon and herbs like berberine can be fantastic. Number three, poor sleep and late nights. Okay, staying up too late and poor sleep will absolutely cause your cortisol to stay stuck. All right? So doing all the practices I talk about, make your room pitch black, make it cold, have a weighted blanket at night, get to bed early, you know, have a wind down routine rather than watching TV.

22:18I mean, watch TV from, I don't know, 6 to 7.30. But then if you're going to bed at 9.30 or 10, you know, shut the TV off or whatever two hours before, right? You go to bed at 10. And by the way, you really want to be in bed at least eight hours. You want eight hours of sleep, okay? And I wear an O-ring and I'm constantly tracking my sleep because, and so does my wife, because we just know sleep is that important. Number four, overtraining and under-recovering. Now, listen, this is probably something only about 10 % of you are guilty of, okay? You're working out, you're in the gym all the time, but you're not recovering enough.

22:52And this is where sleep is maybe the most important part of this. But you do want to, more isn't always better. It's a balance, right? Now, listen, 10 % of you are overtraining, probably 40 % of you are undertraining, right? And there's maybe about 50 % of you that are finding the right balance there. But you do want to find that balance there of weight training with a day or so of cardio or two. And if you do that, you're really in the sweet spot. Number five, stimulants and alcohol. Alcohol, excess caffeine, especially later in the afternoon, that will absolutely throw off your cortisol curve, okay?

23:24And then number six, you know, hidden physical stress. It could be an infection like a parasite or Lyme or mold, those sort of issues. Toxin exposure, nutrient gaps. This is a big one. If your body is deficient in certain B vitamins, it absolutely stresses your adrenal glands out. So if your adrenals and mitochondria don't have the nutrients they need, that is a major, major factor in your cortisol being stuck, okay? And I'm gonna get into more of that in a minute, but those are some things you absolutely, these are the six big things where if your cortisol is stuck, if you address these six things, you will experience a cortisol breakthrough and a hormone breakthrough all around.

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24:45You'll also get a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to review your results and discover ways that you can work with the Health Institute to finally find lasting healing. If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now. Now, I talked about stress being one of the biggest causative factors of high cortisol or imbalanced cortisol and having cortisol affect your appearance, causing cortisol phase. And let me name something I think so many of you are dealing with, and it relates back to, again, the number one thing I just talked about that causes high cortisol.

25:22And I see this especially in women. For a lot of you, you are carrying the entire world on your shoulders. You're trying to maintain a career. You've got kids at home, aging parents, you're trying to have a good marriage, you're maybe trying to volunteer at school or church, and it maintains some friendships and relationships. Your phone is buzzing constantly, and your body can't tell the difference between a lion chasing you and your inbox and your phone being full, okay? It just keeps your cortisol on. Your body's like, okay, I am in emergency mode here. I want to mention this. Sleep is a big multiplier.